SEO Marketing and Web Marketing Strategy Writing Tips

If you want to do well with SEO marketing and a web marketing strategy, just be an expert.

But you don’t need to be an online marketing specialist.

Let me explain.

I can’t tell you how many business executives I meet who are enormously gifted and smart. They just don’t share their knowledge with the world.

But they should.

Being a member of a trade association is a good start. They have all sorts of publications and ties to places that do.  Or, every industry is packed with online magazines that may accept their articles.

It just takes time. Sure, every pitch won’t be accepted. But it’s not that hard to find an online publication willing to accept an article.

The key is to be informative without being a sales rep. For some people, that may be a tall order – writing something that manages to promote the business while leaving the reader fulfilled. Again, it’s not difficult. Just don’t mention your product or service.

Some people may ask, “What’s the point?” It’s about credibility. If you write for the industry, you build notoriety – fast. And every article includes a bio with a reference to the business. Plus, you get a link to your web site. Links can influence natural search engine rankings.

If writing isn’t one of your God-given gifts, then talk to someone who can take some notes or give them an edge with some bullet points.

The bottom line is that an article is invaluable – for image, links and so much more. Cite the article when approaching prospects. Tease it in a e-mail newsletter. Feature it in your social media efforts. You get all of that – and more – for writing one article.

Bonus tip: Repurpose your article into anything else you need content for – like your web site, a PDF people can download, etc.

Internet Home Page Marketing Tips

If you want to do better with search engines, pay attention to your Internet home page that packs a lot of power – and for good reason.

It’s typically the most visited page and your web site navigation points to it.

Sure, you may want someone to go to a specific product or service page.

At the end of the day it may be the home page that they discover first.

What’s on that page that may drive someone to the right page after the home page. What conversion opportunities are there?  Is there a short form? What about a phone number?  Is there a download opportunity for a white paper? Can you announce a special offer?

A home page does so well because other web sites link to it from the outside.  It’s not abnormal for a newsletter and other web site or a directory to link your home page merely out of protocol. In other words, it’s the beneficiary of how people link. Links are crucial because search engines put a lot of stock in them.

Search engines determine whether websites linking to yours are related. Search engines also look at what text someone uses when they link to you, especially the text that’s within the link or near the link. Everything makes a difference.

Again, your home page needs a terrific web design. What words are you using and where are they located?  What headlines and subheads are you using? What words are boldfaced and what words are hyperlinked? What pictures you use will make an impact. Your home page must make it easy for someone to get around and to understand what it is you even do.

If your home page ranks well for some keywords, don’t do anything drastic. If you go in, make simple changes, subtle adjustments and measure the results.  You don’t want to capsize your efforts just because you get a little too greedy or you naively make alterations without really knowing what you’re doing.

Need an online marketing specialist? I can help.

Keyword Rankings and Shortcuts

Some people would argue that there are no shortcuts when it comes to keyword research for keyword rankings.

I disagree.

You can only do so much given everything else on your plate.  Your search engine optimization or SEO campaign will never be perfect.  So cut yourself some slack with keyword search engine optimization.

Do the best you can with your time and your talent.  Unfortunately, there are some people who would expect to use all 50 keyword tools if there was an official list of 50 keyword tools and techniques.

I don’t know all the ways that you can tap to research keyword phrases.  You could look at Google’s free keyword tool.  But it’s better to get a Google account in accessed more data.  You can go to Keyword Discovery.  Or you can check out the competition.  And that’s just the start.

The extent of your keyword research is an important topic.  Sure, you don’t want to go overboard.  We don’t want you to claim you’re busy either and just try one keyword research tactic.  You have to decide how much keyword research your website merits.  Do you really need to research all of the keywords at the beginning?  Or can you target a certain product, a series of products or maybe a section of the website?

Keep in mind as you look at possible keyword phrases that different online marketing research resources will have considerable common ground.  In other words, you’re going to come across the same keyword  phrases no matter where you look.

Sometimes you need to get creative.  I was running out of ideas ones so I got a large book on a topic, skipped the Table of Contents and went right for the index that provided ample ideas for keyword.  It never hurts to ask someone, particularly the customer, how he would look for your product or service.  Can you imagine a web site owner targeting “autos” when his customers are searching for “cars”?  Or maybe the campaign needs to be robust and target both.

At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself whether you made the effort that you should have to help increase your search engine visibility.  Get rolling, measure what you’ve accomplished and adjust.

SEO Gone Bad. New York Times Nails Black Hat SEO

David Segal just wrote an extensive SEO online marketing piece about the slimy part of search engine optimization (SEO) called Black Hat.

He called out J. C. Penney for apparently using unscrupulous techniques to game the search engine results, particularly on Google.

Of course, the key players like J. C. Penney executives had little to say about their direct involvement. The piece goes on to say that the company got rid of its consultant. You think?

The story starts out with the odd performance of JCPenney.com web site. Despite fierce competition, it beat out many notable players for everything from “skinny jeans,” “tablecloths.” – plus very specific, offbeat phrases.

As you’ll discover, Google got involved and J. C. Penney was knocked from the top.

The heart of the strategy seems to have involved junk links from thousands of no-name web sites that weren’t relevant in any way.

To the general public, the story may sound fresh. As an online marketing specialist, I enjoyed it a great deal, reading every word. But it’s not new.

This sort of thing happens all of the time – and it works. It takes time, money, greed and risk.

For my clients, I have a tough time justifying getting links from places that have nothing in common with the clients. Does it have to be a direct link? No.

Links can influence organic keyword rankings, so we need to get them. But you don’t need to trick a competitor into linking to a client (that would be crazy). How about a link from an industry newsletter or online magazine? How about a directory – even one that covers an array of topics (including the type of business your client owns)?

Part of me wants to chase down links from all sorts of places. I’m kind of turned off by all of the SEO-friendly directories you’ll find out there. But I’m also attracted to them. If I get 1,000 links from fairly useless places (that 99.999% of people will never visit), my client will rank higher.

But Google strikes just enough fear to make me avoid this tactic. Who wants to watch a client fall off the face of the earth (i.e. first page of Google)? I don’t want to be on the other end of the call when a client tells me how he’s feeling at the moment.

As much as I admire Google (really, I do), I wish it had more power beyond its pronouncements. If you’re going to crack down on Black Hat stuff – like stupid links from equally lame web sites – then do something about it.

If you don’t like so-called online marketers, then stop them.

Is it really that hard to see that a web site has 2,000 links from irrelevant web sites?

My guess is that Google doesn’t trust its ability to sort the good from the bad. In other words, it doesn’t want to block a decent web site from users who may value that information.

And so it goes. I see web sites all of the time that enjoy the fruits of high rankings supported by weak links as part of a deliberate manipulation scheme.

In the meantime, we’ll all continue to do what we can to rank to the top. Sometimes it’s just about adding extra pages of content – the effort really aimed at search engines (it works). Or, we’ll fatten up a page with extra words (again, it works).

Search engines would argue that you’re also doing it for the users – helping them find what matches their interests.

From what I encounter and monitor first-hand, it appears that all of the thought and energy is really for search engines. You can “trick” the search engines by simply writing words with the right combination and balance of keyword density. All you really need is a brain.

If you want to do things the right way, just stand out from the pack. Create a web site with compelling content that everyone will talk about and pass along – Word of Mouth works great digitally and among human beings who actually talk with one another.

Invest in that interactive feature, that white paper, that study, that toolset, etc. At a minimum, write something people care about, something that will engage them. Don’t just say, “We have this product or this service – and we think it’s terrific.”

How far will that get you?